A Works Cited page lists all the resources that are cited (referenced, referred to) in your assignment or presentation. Whatever quotations you cite (by page number or author) must match this list. In the study of English literature and some humanities courses, you are required to use MLA format (Modern Language Association). Sample page from OWL.
Citation: a label inside an essay that links to the Works Cited page and tells the reader from where the direct quotation was extracted. The source can be directly from a literary work (short stories, novels, plays, poems), or from the research (literary critiques written by experts in the field such as English Professors or other professional writers) from the library databases. To cite a quotation means to label it with a citation.
How to embed citations (in-text citations), how to work a direct quotation (from a literary piece or research) smoothly into your analysis
As you take notes on research, be sure to write down questions, observations, and understandings in addition to key points
Record bibliographical information as you take notes. Consider using the EHSS Library Digital Notetaker If you use one of the databases from our library website (earlhaig.ca/library), then the bibliographic info is usually at the bottom of the article or can be accessed from a side panel. See time 4:13 in the video below.
Using GALE Virtual Reference Library from the EHSS Library's Databases (earlhaig.ca/library > right-panel databases)
Consider using easybib.com - and use the coupon code in the library section at the start of your agenda.
Embedded Citations (citing quotations in an essay)
Click here for most recent instructions from MLA style guide.
Short Story:
(author + space + page number) " _" (Marquez 231);
each subsequent/following quotation, use only (page number) - " _" (232)
Novel: ibid (same as above)
Shakespearean Play
Modern Play
Poem
Reference materials: always double check the easybib generated entry against one of these sources:
Green Research Guide - go to library site, right panel. See agenda for password or ask Mr. Go or any Teacher-Librarian). In the green guide, search (Ctrl + F) the table of contents for the section on the MLA Works Cited page.
Your Works Cited page should always correspond to the citation inside your paper or assignment (presentation, etc..). Usually in the form of a page number or author or website name in parenthesis (round brackets) labelled after a quotation from the literary work studied or excerpt from research.
Centre the title Works Cited at the top of the page (no underlining)
For each entry, put in alphabetical order. Do not group
Remember to indent every line EXCEPT for the first one.
The author’s name or a book with a single author's name appears in last name, first name format. The basic form for a book citation is:
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium ofPublication.
Most Common Works Cited entries:
From the MLA Works Cited section of the Green Research Guide (earlhaig.ca/library > right panel, password at start of agenda)
Click on image to enlarge
Book with One Author
Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin, 1987. Print.
Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, 1999. Print.
Book with More Than One Author
The first given name appears in last name, first name format; subsequent author names appear in first name last name format.
Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000.
Print.
If there are more than three authors, you may choose to list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for "and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names, or you may list all the authors in the order in which their names appear on the title page. (Note that there is a period after “al” in “et al.” Also note that there is never a period after the “et” in “et al.”).
Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Logan: Utah State UP, 2004. Print.
MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications - remember to indent every line except the first)
Summary: MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th ed.) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page. Contributors:Tony Russell, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth Angeli, Russell Keck
Last Edited: 2012-03-08 02:14:51
MLA lists electronic sources as Web Publications. Thus, when including the medium of publication for electronic sources, list the medium as Web.
It is always a good idea to maintain personal copies of electronic information, when possible. It is good practice to print or save Web pages or, better, using a program like Adobe Acrobat, to keep your own copies for future reference. Most Web browsers will include URL/electronic address information when you print, which makes later reference easy. Also, you might use the Bookmark function in your Web browser in order to return to documents more easily.
Important Note on the Use of URLs in MLA
MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA citations. Because Web addresses are not static (i.e., they change often) and because documents sometimes appear in multiple places on the Web (e.g., on multiple databases), MLA explains that most readers can find electronic sources via title or author searches in Internet Search Engines. For instructors or editors who still wish to require the use of URLs, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes.
Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive. Web Atomic and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 13 Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008. ‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.
Abbreviations Commonly Used with Electronic Sources
If publishing information is unavailable for entries that require publication information such as publisher (or sponsor) names and publishing dates, MLA requires the use of special abbreviations to indicate that this information is not available. Use n.p. to indicate that neither a publisher nor a sponsor name has been provided. Use n.d. when the Web page does not provide a publication date.
When an entry requires that you provide a page but no pages are provided in the source (as in the case of an online-only scholarly journal or a work that appears in an online-only anthology), use the abbreviation n. pag.
Basic Style for Citations of Electronic Sources (Including Online Databases)
Here are some common features you should try and find before citing electronic sources in MLA style. Not every Web page will provide all of the following information. However, collect as much of the following information as possible both for your citations and for your research notes:
Author and/or editor names (if available)
Article name in quotation marks (if applicable)
Title of the Website, project, or book in italics. (Remember that some Print publications have Web publications with slightly different names. They may, for example, include the additional information or otherwise modified information, like domain names [e.g. .com or .net].)
Any version numbers available, including revisions, posting dates, volumes, or issue numbers.
Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.
Take note of any page numbers (if available).
Medium of publication.
Date you accessed the material.
URL (if required, or for your own personal reference; MLA does not require a URL).
Citing an Entire Web Site
It is necessary to list your date of access because web postings are often updated, and information available on one date may no longer be available later. If a URL is required or you chose to include one, be sure to include the complete address for the site. (Note: The following examples do not include a URL because MLA no longer requires a URL to be included.)
Remember to use n.p. if no publisher name is available and n.d. if no publishing date is given.
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2008.
Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003. Web. 10 May 2006.
Notetaking | Embedded Citations | Reference Links | Common Bib Entries
A Works Cited page lists all the resources that are cited (referenced, referred to) in your assignment or presentation. Whatever quotations you cite (by page number or author) must match this list. In the study of English literature and some humanities courses, you are required to use MLA format (Modern Language Association). Sample page from OWL.
Notetaking Tips (see some tips from our library)
Using GALE Virtual Reference Library from the EHSS Library's Databases (earlhaig.ca/library > right-panel databases)
Consider using easybib.com - and use the coupon code in the library section at the start of your agenda.
Embedded Citations (citing quotations in an essay)
Reference materials: always double check the easybib generated entry against one of these sources:
Your Works Cited page should always correspond to the citation inside your paper or assignment (presentation, etc..). Usually in the form of a page number or author or website name in parenthesis (round brackets) labelled after a quotation from the literary work studied or excerpt from research.
Basic Format (from OWL at Purdue)
- remember to indent every line except the first
The author’s name or a book with a single author's name appears in last name, first name format. The basic form for a book citation is:
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium ofPublication.
Most Common Works Cited entries:
From the MLA Works Cited section of the Green Research Guide (earlhaig.ca/library > right panel, password at start of agenda)
Book with One Author
Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin, 1987. Print.
Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, 1999. Print.
Book with More Than One Author
The first given name appears in last name, first name format; subsequent author names appear in first name last name format.Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000.
Print.
If there are more than three authors, you may choose to list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for "and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names, or you may list all the authors in the order in which their names appear on the title page. (Note that there is a period after “al” in “et al.” Also note that there is never a period after the “et” in “et al.”).
Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Logan: Utah State UP, 2004. Print.
MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications - remember to indent every line except the first)
Summary: MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th ed.) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.
Contributors:Tony Russell, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth Angeli, Russell Keck
Last Edited: 2012-03-08 02:14:51
MLA lists electronic sources as Web Publications. Thus, when including the medium of publication for electronic sources, list the medium as Web.
It is always a good idea to maintain personal copies of electronic information, when possible. It is good practice to print or save Web pages or, better, using a program like Adobe Acrobat, to keep your own copies for future reference. Most Web browsers will include URL/electronic address information when you print, which makes later reference easy. Also, you might use the Bookmark function in your Web browser in order to return to documents more easily.
Important Note on the Use of URLs in MLA
MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA citations. Because Web addresses are not static (i.e., they change often) and because documents sometimes appear in multiple places on the Web (e.g., on multiple databases), MLA explains that most readers can find electronic sources via title or author searches in Internet Search Engines.For instructors or editors who still wish to require the use of URLs, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes.
Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive. Web Atomic and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 13 Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008. ‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.
Abbreviations Commonly Used with Electronic Sources
If publishing information is unavailable for entries that require publication information such as publisher (or sponsor) names and publishing dates, MLA requires the use of special abbreviations to indicate that this information is not available. Use n.p. to indicate that neither a publisher nor a sponsor name has been provided. Use n.d. when the Web page does not provide a publication date.When an entry requires that you provide a page but no pages are provided in the source (as in the case of an online-only scholarly journal or a work that appears in an online-only anthology), use the abbreviation n. pag.
Basic Style for Citations of Electronic Sources (Including Online Databases)
Here are some common features you should try and find before citing electronic sources in MLA style. Not every Web page will provide all of the following information. However, collect as much of the following information as possible both for your citations and for your research notes:Citing an Entire Web Site
It is necessary to list your date of access because web postings are often updated, and information available on one date may no longer be available later. If a URL is required or you chose to include one, be sure to include the complete address for the site. (Note: The following examples do not include a URL because MLA no longer requires a URL to be included.)Remember to use n.p. if no publisher name is available and n.d. if no publishing date is given.
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2008.
Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003. Web. 10 May 2006.